Petrograd Military Revolutionary Committee
Initially the committee was created on 25 October 1917 after the German army secured the city of Riga and the West Estonian Archipelago (see Operation Albion).
Among its numerous other members were Leon Trotsky, Nikolai Podvoisky, Felix Dzerzhinsky, Yakov Sverdlov, Andrei Bubnov, Moisei Uritsky, Vladimir Antonov-Ovseenko, Joseph Stalin, and Pavel Lazimir, who was its chairman.
5 October] 1917, General Polkovnikov, the commander of the Petrograd Military District, ordered the bulk of the capital's garrison units (those considered by the Provisional Government to be politically unreliable) to prepare for immediate transfer to the front.
Given the inflamed political atmosphere this was, perhaps unsurprisingly, a fatal miscalculation on behalf of Alexander Kerensky and quickly sparked a "general mutiny" with most garrison units openly declaring loyalty to the Petrograd Soviet.
[1] Over the following days the composition and structure of this new MRC was decided upon, albeit without reference to Trotsky's inflammatory provocation to the Provisional Government, and the body was ratified by the Soviet on 29 October [O.S.
[4]Throughout the following events of the October Revolution the MRC would play the crucial role of coordinating the thousands of soldiers, sailors, and armed workers involved in seizing control of the city.
A pamphlet titled "To the citizens of Russia" was signed by the Revolutionary Military Committee of the Petrograd Soviet of Workers' and Soldiers Deputies and dated "10am, October 25, 1917".
The cause for which the people have fought, namely, the immediate offer of a democratic peace, the abolition of landed proprietorship, workers' control over production, and the establishment of Soviet power – this cause has been secured.
Even after the decision was made to overthrow Kerensky, the rhetoric of the Bolsheviks focused on defending the democratic gains from Kerensky though they were not only planning defense, but also revolutionary attack: "The characteristic feature of this period is the rapid growth of the crisis, the utter consternation reigning among the ruling circles, the isolation of the Socialist-Revolutionaries and Mensheviks, and the mass flight of the vacillating elements to the side of the Bolsheviks.
The revolution, as it were, masked its actions in attack under the cloak of defence in order the more easily to draw the irresolute, vacillating elements into its orbit.
[7] Kerensky's order was issued not long after the Bolsheviks gained a majority in the Petrograd Soviet and Trotsky was elected Chairman (the latter took place on 9 October [O.S.
"[9] The MRC was formed in response to the decision of the Provisional Government under Kerensky to transfer to the front military units that were suspected of being too strongly under the influence of Bolsheviks or other radical parties.
[11] Leon Trotsky, stated that "[o]f the Social Revolutionaries only Lazimir did any work, and he was even placed at the head of the bureau in order to emphasise the fact that the Committee was a Soviet and not a party institution [...] the MRC's "chief workers [were] Podvoisky, Antonov-Ovseenko, Lashevich, Sadovsky, and Mekhonoshin" and that they all "relied exclusively upon Bolsheviks".
21–24 October] 1917, they successfully deposed the standing commissars of the Central Executive Committee of the First Congress of Soviets, who were mostly Mensheviks and Socialist Revolutionaries, and thereby ensured that the military would be under their command.
After the October insurrection, levels of grain stock in Petrograd were so low that they were insufficient to supply the city with the daily ration of half a pound of bread for even one day.
The MRC imposed even stricter food controls and sent “flying food-supply squads” to the other provinces, followed by stiff penalties against possible speculation on the new incoming provisions.
[17] Eventually, many of the duties of the MRC were overtaken by the Council of People's Commissars that was formed after the October insurrection, as well as other new and/or newly renovated administrative offices.
